The Clark County School District announced Thursday that it will use $777 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to expand preschool classes, improve mental health services, secure English learner recommendations for teachers, and more. .
district Had a conversation with the community to ask for feedback To use money from the American Relief Program and the Elementary and Middle School Emergency Relief Fund. The funds are intended to help address the challenges students and teachers face during the pandemic.
While handing out the first report on the annual use of the funds on Thursday, school district chief strategy officer Kelly Kowal Paul said school districts have until September 30, 2024 to commit funds to the program. rice field.
On Thursday, the district highlighted several areas where money was spent.
– Investing $70 million in teacher recruitment and retention to significantly reduce classroom vacancies.
– Give each district elementary school a budget to address the academic, social, emotional and behavioral needs of each student.
– Improve access to technology so that every student in the district has a laptop or tablet to access the online curriculum.
– Provide all students with access to one-on-one tutoring and mental health services.
– Provide professional learning opportunities where teachers have access to literacy and science instruction, and the opportunity to earn a Master’s Degree in English Learning for free.
As of October 1, the school district had spent or planned to spend more than a third of its funds, or just over $255 million.
The district said spending was ahead of schedule, but trustee Lisa Guzman questioned whether more time was needed to allocate the funds, and superintendent Jesus Jara said other cities’ He pointed to a letter he had signed with the superintendent asking him to spend more time.
Jarra said the letter included all of Nevada’s superintendents. The district faces “supply and demand” challenges, and “it’s always good to err on the side of caution” when it comes to asking for additional time to spend funds, he said.
“Knowing the government’s investment in K-12 education, how can we stay off the edge?” he said. “If you have time, it will help you slowly get off the cliff.”
Reading teacher and president of the Southern Nevada Education Association, Vicki Kreidel, said student behavior was an overwhelming concern, and the district was doing everything possible to support the mental health of its students. He emphasized that the budget needs to be invested.
district saw Last year’s surge in violence Students returned to their first full-year in-person classes after the start of the pandemic. where the teacher used violence attackedurge the district implement some new security measures.
Krydell said on Thursday he hadn’t seen what was happening in the district right now and educators didn’t have the skills to handle some of these issues.
“…educators can’t do this on our own, we need help…” she said. “This is something that needs to be addressed before another El Dorado happens.”
Please contact Lorraine Longhi at 702-387-5298 or llonghi @reviewjournal.com.follow her @Rorongi on Twitter.
